) WiFi 5 router from the past 5-6 years, this router is bridged with Airtel Huawei modem and the Asus router has been rock solid all these years.
From the past 2 years I have been adding a lot of IoT devices (via Home Assistant) to my home network and have plans to add more devices in the coming days, I have observed few IoT devices are randomly losing connection for few seconds (even though they are local devices & not connected to any 3rd party cloud app), I am suspecting the reason could be Wi-Fi range issues, the received signal strength Indicates some of the devices fluctuates btwn -70dBm to -80dBm.
So now the question - Is it the right time to upgrade to a Wifi 6 router or stick with current one for another year or so? and guys here how often do you change/upgrade your router?
If you guys suggest changing router, which model should I go for ?
This was the main reason i upgraded from my Archer C20i (Bought in 2016 ) to Asus AX88U in 2021 , It did solve the problem and overall coverage did improve .
But from my experience , i suggest if you want to upgrade go for a mesh system as it can be modifies according to need .
If the current router is not cutting it then that’s its the time to upgrade. There is no fix timeframe to a upgrade its networking hardware if its relevant to your needs then its good to go.
And for the WI-FI 6 you do get bidirectional MIMO and better simultaneous device handling , better efficiency but all the devices on the network should support Wi-Fi 6 ,
In my case just my laptop , phone and desktop supports WI-FI 6 other smart IoT devices on the network doesn’t have support .
This is pretty good got to know about it after switching to asus
In my case i was upgrading from a entry level 5ghz router to a kind off flagship WIFI 6 router so yes it did improve the coverage to whole house and beyond.
After upgrade i am getting -45 dBm to -68 dBm (In the furthest corner of house) signal strength on 5Ghz 160 MHz band . My house is about 850 sqft. and router is placed in the centre of house.
since you already have an old asus router, and are used to/ comfortable with the app and features
i would get a new Asus router and use the old one as a mesh node (win win)
Check maximum concurrent connected user limit for your router.
Sometimes, devices those are above this limit get dropped, then added again once other device is free.
Have seen this happening with Linksys routers.
Completed the new router setup and to my disappointment the new router hardly made any difference, especially range coverage, just got a minimal 3-5% improvement.
So I reached out to Amazon and luckily they accepted return and refunded.
the other options where to buy a much expensive router which can increase range… or go for a Access point mode extending my current setup.
I decided to go for the AP option since I had few spare routers lying around and setup AP mode using a Tenda Ac10 router (with Asus router being the upstream router)
This setup did the trick and the range coverage improved by over 40% across my home.
The only confusion I had was to use same SSID as my upstream router or create different SSIDs on the AP
currently I am using different SSID and the setup is working fine..
so should I stick to different SSIDs or use the same ?
Use different SSIDs as devices don’t switch seamlessly between the same SSIDs, sometimes even clinging to the weaker signal.
Also, the repeated signal is always going to be worse with higher latency and less throughput, so sticking to the primary router as much as possible is preferable.
Well… You got lucky you bought it from amazon. Range is mostly same on all routers and it really depends on what kind of layout your home has, how thick are the walls and what material. In 90% cases a new router at the same place will not help to increase range and that is why I immediately without any thoughts suggested you to place an AP near your devices where signal strength is low.
Keep SSID different as suggested. Devices tend to cling to the same network even if signal strength is low so they won’t switch to a new AP with same SSID.
Agreed but it’s still fine for streaming media and IoT devices. I have a wireless repeater router in my home since 2 years and 2 TVs are connected to it which stream live TV and other media from OTT platforms just fine.
Additionally, some smart appliances are also connected. I’m connecting the routers via 5Ghz band.
Unfortunately my main router placement is at one corner of the house and not able to reposition it due to multiple reasons.
my Access point (repeater) is mainly for the IoT devices connectivity on 2.4ghz, except one laptop all the other devices at home (Phone, Laptops, TV, iPad & watches) are connected to the main router..
(Unless ISP does it for higher speeds)